The Manchester City right-back was constantly overlooked for England, could the Liverpool star be the one to lose out?
Manchester City right-back Micah Richards’ omission from recent England squads has been quite the conundrum in recent times.
For two seasons he has been performing consistently and with flair for his club, solid in defence, dangerous going forward.
You would have thought he would be one of the lead contenders for this summer’s tournament, but under Capello he never got a look-in.
He was of course in one of Capello’s first squads in a friendly against France, but similar to Michael Owen, he found himself in exile ever since.
Perhaps Capello saw something in Richards’ attitude he didn’t like, may be there is more to it than we see.
Capello, like Mancini has on occasions, has questioned Richards’ defensive positioning. The Italians are tough taskmasters of the defensive part of the game, so perhaps they are seeing something I’ve been missing.
As far as I can tell though, Richards deserves an England opportunity, and I don’t think many would disagree.
One man the managerial resignation could spell bad news for is Glen Johnson.
The Liverpool player was one of the key culprits in England’s 4-1 defeat to Germany in the last World Cup, leaving huge gaps for the counter-attacking Germans to exploit.
His defensive work is far more suspect than Richards, which makes Capello’s assessment even more bizarre.
With Richards due for a chance, along with Kyle Walker, who could also be in with a huge shout if club manager Harry Redknapp gets the England nod, Glen Johnson will lose out as his position will no longer be guaranteed.
Then there is Newcastle’s Danny Simpson, and the Manchester United duo of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, who can also fill in at right-back if required.
Who do you think England’s right-back should be at Euro 2012?
image: © Alfonso Jimenez
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